Will Work For Beer

04Feb10

Everyone has a story. Over the past several months I have been inhaling this statement and slowly i’ve been exhaling things such as generosity and love to those in need. It’s hard sometimes, we live in a ridiculously selfish world and as much as we all will argue and try and justify, all we care about sometimes is ourselves. As far as international means of helping, social justice and helping those in poverty has started to become one of the biggest passions in my life. But apart from the people in africa or haiti, there are still people here in the united states that are in need. I guarantee you have driven down the road and seen the homeless vet with the little dog on 23rd St. if you live in Panama City. People are in need all around us. Today I did something I never have done before. One of those things that you talk about doing and how that’s what love is but you never seem to get around to doing it. And before I go on, I do not say anything of this to try and lift my name up in anyway, but I say this to try and life Jesus’ name up as high as possible. I was driving home from work today and home for me is Panama City Beach. I came over the bridge and took Front Beach Rd. like I always do and I noticed i guy standing on the side of the road by subway (across from Mikatos) holding up a cardboard sign facing away from me. Obviously he needed something whether it be food, work, beer, or cigarettes. I drove past him thinking to myself, eh, i’ll keep going i couldn’t see his sign anyways. I got to the next parking lot and just felt like I need to go see what was up with this dude, so I turned around to go back. I pulled through the subway parking lot and back out on the street and pulled up next to this guy to see really what his sign said and to see if I could help him in any way. His sign read “Stranded, Need Help”. So I rolled down my window and asked him if he needed help (here’s your sign). He said he was stranded and needed to get to Enterprise, AL. Now instantly I sat there and thought, ok so really you need money to go across the street to Newby’s and buy some booze, which still wouldn’t have stopped me from helping him out. He told me he needed $32.00 to get a bus ticket to travel there. So I thought about the nearest bank and told him i’d be right back. So I drove to the bank and on the way I thought to myself, “i’m going to give this dude like $40.00 and he’ll be shocked and either for sure make it to Alabama or be wasted by 5:00?. So I came back about 15 minutes later and he was still standing there on the side of the road, holding his sign, and I parked and walked up to him. He looked a little shocked that I actually returned, and I asked him if he had eaten. He said some lady gave him a little piece of something and so I decided to ask him to have lunch with me. He seemed pretty grateful and we walked into Subway together. I asked him what he wanted seeing as he probably doesn’t get a choice like that often and he went on to make a very interesting sub, or one of the most interesting ones i’ve ever eaten. It was a meatball marinara sub with lettuce and banana peppers on it, and I wont lie it was actually pretty good. So we sat down and started talking. His name was Wayde and he has lived in Panama City for about 12 years. He did frame work and concrete work for a living but he went on to tell me that it’s nearly impossible to get a job around here these days. So he was trying to get Enterprise because he has family over there and there’s work waiting for him. He has a 14 year old daughter that lives with her mother off of Hwy 79 and he very rarely gets to see her and his life has been falling apart for quite some time. He started telling me how he was a believer and how he was so grateful for me wanting to have lunch with him. He went on to tell me about the time he recently spent in jail and how he really clung to God’s word in the midst of everything going on. I asked why he was in jail and without hesitation he told me that one night after Monday Night Football he and a couple of buddies of his were extremely drunk and decided they wanted to go to a Van Halen concert in South Florida and they didn’t have a car so they went to Lincoln Mercury Car Dealership and stole a car. It landed him 18 months in prison. We made small talk after the bulk of info was out on the table and we ended up finishing up lunch and walking out the door I got to share a couple of things about Northstar with him and told him if he was ever in town to come check it out. Then off we went to go get the rest of his cloths, that were supposedly soaking wet, out of the bushes from across the street to go call the bus station. Now after saying all of this, I really hope no one is sitting there thinking something like, “Man, that was pretty awesome of Robbie”, or “Amen, love the homeless”. God calls us to love the widows, orphans, and those in need. So why is it such a shockingly awesome thing when someone does something drastic like ask a homeless guy to have lunch with them. We are here to live together. Everyone has a story and there’s more people in need out there than we can fathom. Across seas and across the street. I think it’s great when people give money to the homeless, or when they buy them a hot meal, but why not sit down with them and talk. Buy them lunch or dinner, take them somewhere nice even, make them feel like they’re loved and like they’re importsnt. Now girls, I totally understand that you can’t necessarily go and do this own your own because there are risks but go grab a guy friend of yours and then go. The second greatest commandment that we were given from God was to love our neighbors as ourselves. If it was you on the side of the road, what would you rather have, a nice meal in an air conditioned restaurant away from the heat or cold, or would you rather have someone hand you $5 bucks and say “God-bless you!”. Wayde and I got to pray together after eating and he sat there praying for me, telling god how “I saved him” and how he was so grateful for me, and then I got to pray for Wayde and just asked God to help him get his life back on track. I’m going to continue to pray for Wayde and if you could take a moment to pray for him as well. He really seemed like a cool guy that just seemed a little lost in this world, and who knows maybe one day he’ll show up at Northstar, maybe not, but at least hopefully now love has started rescuing Wayde. Check out more about Love Come Rescue at facebook.com/lovecomerescue

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